Hurricane Isaias hits Florida Gulf Coast with 105 mph winds

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on the evening of October 9 as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. The storm brought heavy rain and flash flooding to parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, and winds that toppled trees and downed power lines. Isaias became the season's first hurricane on October 8 as it tracked toward the U.S. Gulf Coast after a quiet start to the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

Gusts topped 100 miles per hour along a corridor west of the storm's center. The National Weather Service reported a 117-mile-per-hour gust in Oriole Beach and a 102-mile-per-hour gust at Pensacola City Hall. Many people were left without electricity after the storm passed.

Satellite images from NASA's Black Marble HD product showed substantial decreases in nighttime lights in areas west of the storm's eye. The images revealed lights decreasing sharply around parts of Pensacola and along the U.S. Route 98 corridor toward Destin, suggesting widespread power disruptions. The left image shown is a composite of August 2026 data representing typical conditions, and the right image shows lights on October 11 after most of the storm's clouds had cleared.

Pockets where lights persisted included Pensacola International Airport, Pensacola Christian College, and parts of downtown Pensacola. According to Ranjay Shrestha of NASA's Black Marble science team, these patterns could reflect backup power systems, differences in electrical infrastructure, or areas that maintained electricity during the storm. The Black Marble product uses data from the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite to detect electric lights at night.

The team processed the data to account for changes in terrain, the atmosphere, and phase of the Moon, and to filter out stray light that does not come from electric lights. Dark gray areas show where clouds prevented the satellite from collecting data.

By October 14, lighting patterns looked similar to pre-storm conditions. Black Marble HD images revealed the pace and spatial patterns of recovery. Shrestha said understanding where recovery is progressing and where disruptions persist can help emergency responders and decision makers identify areas that may require additional attention, prioritize resources, and assess the effectiveness of restoration efforts.

The NASA Disasters Program is supporting the Alabama Red Cross and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency's response to Hurricane Isaias in coordination with FEMA and the USGS Coastal Storms Team. The team will post maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal as new information becomes available.